The international conventions of OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) describe a bribe for a public official as an undue advantage. According to OECD conventions, “an undue advantage may be of a pecuniary or non-pecuniary nature. It may also be tangible or intangible. Therefore an undue advantage may be money, a loan, shares in company, a holiday, food and drink, sex, enrolment in a school for an official’s child, or promotion, as long as it places the official in a better position than he/she was before the commission of the offense”[1] . Gifts are also often seen as bribes. OECD conventions say that: “Gifts to public officials can also pose difficulties with the definition of a bribe, as public officials are often presented with gifts that may be bribes. To avoid any uncertainty many countries have banned gifts to public officials” [2] . Cornell University Law School defines bribery as: “offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving of any item of value as a means of influencing the actions of an person holding a public or legal duty” [3] . Bribery can be divided into two categories, active and passive. Active bribery occurs on the supply side and passive on the demand side [4] .
Active bribery
Active bribery is defined by U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Center to: “the offence committed by the person who is offering, promising or giving the bribe" [5] . Corruption and bribery are very old and efficient techniques to influence in people and decisions [6] . And therefore bribes are often given to increase company’s sales. It means for example that a person who is working for a medical company, let’s call it “Company A”. Is offering or giving bribes and arranges education events to doctors in terms that his company’s medicines would be more prescribed by them. “Company A” doesn’t need to have the best medicines, but their products are being more used because they have influenced people to use their product with help of the bribe. The company’s sales increase as result of more used products. Medical companies use a lot of money on doctor’s reward and education. In Finland pharmaceutical industry spent for a couple of years ago 15.9 million euros to doctors further education [7] .
Passive bribery
Passive bribery includes the offence committed by the official who receives or accepts the bribe [8] . In the example with “Company A” the doctor who receives or accepts the bribe commits to passive bribery. It is though important to note that it is often the person who receives the bribe who demanded it in the first place. So it is often the passive party who are more “active” in the transaction [9] . Persons ask for bribes because they know that they have a position where they can be deciding and influencing in things and then benefit more of their position.
Bribery seen by the Finnish law
By the Finnish law a person is committed to active bribery if he/she promise, offer or gives a bribe to someone in the purpose to influence in this behavior. The offence is aggravated if the purpose is to get a public official to act against the law, or if the purpose of the bribery is to get remarkable benefit, or to cause considerable damage to another party, or if the value of the bribe is remarkable. [10] A person is committed to passive bribery if he/she takes initiative or asks for a bribe. Or if the person accepts a bribe to benefit or to be influenced by the bribe is also against the law. The offence is aggravated if the person makes the bribe to a term for his/hers action or if the person acts against the law. Otherwise active and passive bribery have the same baseline. The punishment for bribery in Finland is fines, prison or dismissal, depending on how serious the crime is. [11]
OECD Glossaries (2008). Corruption: A glossary of international standards in criminal law. OECDpublishing: Paris, France. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/41194428.pdf . Retrieved: 3.10.2014.
^ OECD Glossaries (2008). Corruption: A glossary of international standards in criminal law. OECDpublishing: Paris, France. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/41194428.pdf . Retrieved: 3.10.2014.
^ Turner J. (2011) Money Laundering Prevention: Deterring, Detecting, And Resolving Financial Fraud; p.27. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Available at: Ebrary. Retrieved: 9.10.2014.
Table of Contents
Definition
The international conventions of OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) describe a bribe for a public official as an undue advantage. According to OECD conventions, “an undue advantage may be of a pecuniary or non-pecuniary nature. It may also be tangible or intangible. Therefore an undue advantage may be money, a loan, shares in company, a holiday, food and drink, sex, enrolment in a school for an official’s child, or promotion, as long as it places the official in a better position than he/she was before the commission of the offense”[1] . Gifts are also often seen as bribes. OECD conventions say that: “Gifts to public officials can also pose difficulties with the definition of a bribe, as public officials are often presented with gifts that may be bribes. To avoid any uncertainty many countries have banned gifts to public officials” [2] . Cornell University Law School defines bribery as: “offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving of any item of value as a means of influencing the actions of an person holding a public or legal duty” [3] . Bribery can be divided into two categories, active and passive. Active bribery occurs on the supply side and passive on the demand side [4] .Active bribery
Active bribery is defined by U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Center to: “the offence committed by the person who is offering, promising or giving the bribe" [5] . Corruption and bribery are very old and efficient techniques to influence in people and decisions [6] . And therefore bribes are often given to increase company’s sales. It means for example that a person who is working for a medical company, let’s call it “Company A”. Is offering or giving bribes and arranges education events to doctors in terms that his company’s medicines would be more prescribed by them. “Company A” doesn’t need to have the best medicines, but their products are being more used because they have influenced people to use their product with help of the bribe. The company’s sales increase as result of more used products. Medical companies use a lot of money on doctor’s reward and education. In Finland pharmaceutical industry spent for a couple of years ago 15.9 million euros to doctors further education [7] .Passive bribery
Passive bribery includes the offence committed by the official who receives or accepts the bribe [8] . In the example with “Company A” the doctor who receives or accepts the bribe commits to passive bribery. It is though important to note that it is often the person who receives the bribe who demanded it in the first place. So it is often the passive party who are more “active” in the transaction [9] . Persons ask for bribes because they know that they have a position where they can be deciding and influencing in things and then benefit more of their position.Bribery seen by the Finnish law
By the Finnish law a person is committed to active bribery if he/she promise, offer or gives a bribe to someone in the purpose to influence in this behavior. The offence is aggravated if the purpose is to get a public official to act against the law, or if the purpose of the bribery is to get remarkable benefit, or to cause considerable damage to another party, or if the value of the bribe is remarkable. [10]A person is committed to passive bribery if he/she takes initiative or asks for a bribe. Or if the person accepts a bribe to benefit or to be influenced by the bribe is also against the law. The offence is aggravated if the person makes the bribe to a term for his/hers action or if the person acts against the law. Otherwise active and passive bribery have the same baseline. The punishment for bribery in Finland is fines, prison or dismissal, depending on how serious the crime is. [11]
OECD Glossaries (2008). Corruption: A glossary of international standards in criminal law. OECDpublishing: Paris, France. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/41194428.pdf . Retrieved: 3.10.2014.
U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Center. Active and passive bribery. Available at: http://www.u4.no/glossary/active-and-passive-bribery/ . Retrieved: 5.10.2014.
U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Center. Active and passive bribery. Available at: http://www.u4.no/glossary/active-and-passive-bribery/ . Retrieved: 5.10.2014
Oikeusministeriö, Rikoslaki. Available at: http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1889/18890039001#L16. Retrieved: 9.10.2014.
Oikeusministeriö, Rikoslaki. Available at: http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1889/18890039001#L40. Retrieved: 9.10.2014.